You can buy a turkey fryer or you can...

[partscounterman]

Having been in the appliance industry in years past, I always pause at this time of year to read this very ribald post from the best of Craigslist called "You can buy a turkey fryer or you can..." Well, you will have to click on the link yourself just know that there are a lot of four letter words in case you have delicate sensibilities. Reading this reminds me that the worst day of the year at the parts counter was the day before T-day. When I read this I laugh to tears!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Appliance Industry folks! Glad I am now a seasonal Park Ranger!

https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/dlw/484597226.html

 

[revvinkevin]

"last straw" holiday stories of a fed up repair man

 

 

Umm.... yeah... <span style="text-decoration: underline;">excessively</span> profane, harsh and insulting.

 

I can see their side because of stupid people waiting till the last minute before a big holiday to call for repair, but still............

 

Being I'm not in the appliance repair business, I don't think it's that funny.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Well then

Though I am sure Judith Martin would have a coronary.
Perfect.

However, My mother did have her oven element go spritz on Thanksgiving eve with a ton of people coming. The dear, dear man at the local GE appliance repair shop stopped by the house on the way home and delivered a brand new stove. He told her they would settle up after the holidays.

That was 1979, but it was still excellent customer service. Might be the difference between a small town where everyone knows everyone, and a larger city where, as the guy said, "you've never done business with me before."

 

[goatfarmer]

I thought it was hilarious!

 

[ea56]

Well If That Doesn’t Just Say

Happy Thanksgiving! Not!

This is the kind of trash you might see on You Tube about confrontations between angry customers and store personel. I agree that the public can be unreasonable and excessively demanding. But if you’re in the business of providing service it comes with the territory.

And this doesn't mean that customers have the right to be discourteous, but neither do service providers. This is the kind of “ Dark Humor” that is best shared in private with coworkers that can relate.

I have to agree with Kevin, it is excessively profane, and doesn’t belong in this forum, but rather in Dirty Laundry.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/20/2018-19:27]

 

[rp2813]

Something pushed this guy over the edge, that's for sure.  But I can see how his rant would make the "Best Of" list. 

 

Dealing with the public requires patience and diplomacy.  This guy was fresh out of both, and I can absolutely understand why.  Of course he would never say any of this directly to a potential customer.  The worldwide web is everybody's place to vent.

 

The guy knows how to write.  He gets points for that.  I'm a grown man and felt no need to reach for the smelling salts.  The OP warned those with "delicate sensibilities" about the linked content.  If you read all the way through it anyway, then the writer did a good job.

 

[combo52]

Larry At Modern Parts Lives On, LOL

It is funny, but I have always said if I ever get that rude and cynical, its time to retire.

 

I LOVE my work and most of all I LOVE my customers, I have the best job in the world, In the best city in the world.

 

Going into homes everyday in Washington DC is a great treat and meeting intelligent interesting people is the icing on the cake, I often feel that I am on vacation walking around town, much like my several trips to Australia, London, Paris and many other cities in Europe and the US as well.

 

John L.

 

[ea56]

Re: Reply #5

Ralph, with all due respect, I’m a grown man too, and no one likes to use the F bomb more than I do, and anyone that knows me from my posts on AW knows this, but I save it for DL, and out of respect for the rules don’t use it on the Super forum.

I didn’t need any “smelling salts”, and I did read through the entire diatribe. It was the conclusion that I really felt went over the line for Super, when the author suggests that the customer can eat the corn out of his excrement for Thanksgiving. This belongs in DL, if anywhere at all.

And, yes, there were some humorous passages, and I like a laugh just as much as anyone, but leave it for the proper forum, thats all I was trying to point out.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/21/2018-02:54]

 

[sudsmaster]

Good lord, I thought this thread was going to be about the pros and cons of turkey fryers.

Instead it's a discussion of, well, the pros and cons of customer service.

Being a rebel, here's my experience with a turkey fryer:

A few years back, I bought a name brand electric turkey fryer (Butterball XL, I think) at Costco. I'd heard such raves about fried turkey I though surely it would be great.

Then came the actual experience.

First, you need gallons of peanut oil to fill the thing. And that can cost more than the turkey. Second, the 110 volt connection simply isn't enough oomph to keep the oil and turkey at the advertised frying temp. The temp dropped as soon as the (room temp) turkey was added, and never came back up to where it should have been. Third, all that hot oil makes a big mess.

It being a Costco purchase, I weight my post Thanksgiving options and wound up returning it, for a full refund, no questions asked. No nasty cashiers, store managers, corporate policies, etc. I went back to my outdoor (covered patio) propane fired rotisserie grill for superb roast turkey (max 14 lb).

Lesson learned.

 

[rp2813]

Eddie, I agree with you that the serving suggestion for corn was over the top. 

 

I think this is an issue of technicality regarding the proper forum.  The post may have qualified for "Super" since the main content was linked to an off-site location, and proper warning was provided.  Only Robert can say for sure.

 

 

 

[ea56]

Well Ralph,

think about this. There are some underage members on AW.org I believe, and while kids are pretty worldly now, there are some parents that would be pretty upset for their kinder to have access to some of that post. I wouldn’t have been shocked by it when I was a teen, but isn’t the whole purpose of the DL forum to protect those members that may not appreciate this kind of material. At least one other member has expressed this same thought to me. With the warning, adults are likely not to open the link, but kids on the other hand will be drawn to it like moths to a flame. Isn’t the forbidden fruit always the sweetest?

And of course, the ultimate decision is up to Robert. And I don’t mean any of my comments to be a diss to the OP. I worked with the public in one service related job or another for my entire working llife, and I know all to well just how stressful and demanding the public can be. If you don’t think I didn’t see everything about demanding people in the 20 years I worked at the Human Service Dept. you would be much mistaken, believe you me, I saw and heard it ALL, and then some. But as I said before, it goes with the territory.

Happy Thanksgiving! Now get the Turkey fryer out, LOL

Eddie

 

[rp2813]

True enough Eddie.  And if this thread had been launched in DL, I wouldn't have even seen it, as I've removed DL as a forum option.  That loathsome corner of AW has become a far too toxic and confrontational atmosphere on an otherwise fairly cordial site. 

 

We've even lost valuable members due to their falling into the DL trap, yet the member who caused DL to be created in the first place seems to have vanished from this community once again.  Clearly a pattern that suggests an unstable psyche.

 

[michaelman2]

RP2913,

Very well stated! I could not agree more.

Regarding the origin of this thread, it was very well documented and stated the posting may not be for everyone. With that being said, I did find it humorous and very "tongue in cheek".

I highly doubt the person who wrote the Craigslist posting would "actually say" what he "wanted" to say to these self-absorbed, entitled and non-self aware people he apparently encountered.

I believe a prerequisite for graduating college (or HS for that matter) should be a stint dealing with the public. Some type of customer interaction/service job.

I elected to click on the link and read the posting.

I Was NOT offended in the least and my pearls were left un-clutched.

Partscounterman, great post! It was properly prefaced and a "warning" posted as to the content. Again, great posting!

 

[perc-o-prince]

I've gotta say...

I found it somewhat amusing but agree that it's something best shared among those who have direct experience ("shared among co-workers" as one poster suggested).

That said, this year seemed to be quite the opposite of the last few. My guys, save one who had to travel for his last call, were home between 2-3PM yesterday. No panicked last-minute oven broken calls this week that I was made aware of (my territory covers New England and part of the Hudson Valley), though there were a few concerned dishwasher owners ("I have 30 people coming," yada yada yada).

One on Monday to a co-hort of mine: "My coffee center isn't frothing the milk." "Do you NEED your coffee center for Thanksgiving?" "Well, it would be nice to have it as people love to watch it (get a life)." "I'll see you Wednesday morning."

John (combo52), was your area the same this year?

Chuck